On the edge of the cliff, two pairs of eyes locked gazes.
Upon seeing those extraordinary eyes, She Mei instinctively revealed her own vertical snake pupils, yellow with flecks of black.
Both of them had snake pupils.
“You… you…”
She opened her mouth, but in her shock, she couldn’t manage a complete sentence.
Not only did Yin Luan manifest her snake pupils, but she also released the demon qi she had been suppressing with the Divine Dragon Qi Concealing Art.
The former could be faked, but the latter was the real deal—not human at all.
It took a good long while before She Mei slowly recovered from her astonishment.
“Snake…”
She murmured, then asked, “I still can’t quite believe it. Can you transform back into your original form? Or at least show a half-snake body?”
“I can’t.”
Yin Luan shook her head.
“?”
She Mei looked utterly puzzled.
“I’ve been having all sorts of problems,” the Little Snake Demon said carefully. “I’ve forgotten a lot about myself, and I can’t transform back right now.”
“You can’t transform back?” She Mei frowned, pondering for a moment before saying, “That’s the most basic ability for any demon. Could it be… you’re under a curse?”
“A curse?”
“I’ve heard a rumor before. Two mythical great demons were fighting, and one laid a curse on the other. The victim could never return to its original form and had to wander the world in human shape… But only an unimaginably powerful being could cast a curse like that.”
“Hmm.” The Little Snake Demon pondered. “Maybe you’re right, but I have no idea what’s happened to me.”
The one who understood Snake best was Snake herself—she had immediately hit on a perfectly reasonable possibility.
“Snake demon, snake demon!” She Mei stared at Yin Luan, growing more excited and delighted by the second. She couldn’t help throwing her arms around her and laughing loudly. “Hahaha! To think the Eastern Wastelands snake demon lineage produced such a formidable powerhouse. The Snake Clan has hope for revival!”
As she spoke, she flicked out her snake tongue and licked Yin Luan’s cheek over and over. Her joy seemed utterly genuine.
“Cough, cough. Calm down, calm down. That kind of behavior is way too indecent. It doesn’t fit with what the teacher said about the three obediences and four virtues, hehe…”
Thank goodness Ren Tan wasn’t here, or she’d get mad and drag me off for a lecture again!
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” After the burst of affection, She Mei pouted reproachfully. “And what kind of Qi Concealing Technique did you learn? It even fooled me!”
“At the start, I had no idea if you were friend or foe. How could I just reveal myself?”
What if the rules of this world were big snakes eating little snakes, and little snakes eating shrimp? She had encountered so few demons that she had no clue how meeting a fellow kin would play out.
“That makes sense,” She Mei replied. “These aren’t the old days anymore. Everything’s changed… You really don’t remember anything?”
The Little Snake Demon slowly shook her head.
“You can’t return to your snake form and you have no memories.” She Mei’s voice grew solemn. “Your condition really does resemble that legendary curse… But even in human form, your power is this terrifying. If you returned to your true body, wouldn’t you be able to shatter the heavens and raze the earth?”
“You’re exaggerating,” Yin Luan said. “I feel like I couldn’t beat anyone…”
The beautiful woman gave her a speechless look, glancing at the mountaintop that her single punch had obliterated moments ago.
This was “couldn’t beat anyone”?
“Also,” the Little Snake Demon added, “I’m probably not from around here in the Eastern Wastelands. More like an out-of-town snake.”
Based on the clue from the Inheritance Spirit Jade, it was unlikely Yin Luan was native to the Eastern Wastelands. She was quite different from a local like She Mei.
“An outsider?” She Mei exclaimed in surprise. “You crossed the Barbaric Wastes from beyond? You really are full of mysteries…”
Yin Luan shrugged helplessly.
In summary, her labels added up to something like: a mysterious snake from the distant west…
The beautiful woman didn’t seem overly concerned about that. Outsider snake or local snake, they were both snakes—and they’d met in such a stroke of coincidence, no less.
“Have you been living among humans this whole time?”
She Mei asked.
“Yes. I’m not familiar with demon ways of life, and demons are hard to find around here anyway…”
Yin Luan wasn’t lying. In her previous life, she’d been human, so naturally she felt more at ease living among them.
Going fully feral—raw meat and blood—probably wasn’t something she could stomach…
“With Qi Concealing Technique that masterful, you’d be fine under normal circumstances,” She Mei said with a sigh. “But as the saying goes, you can’t keep fire wrapped in paper forever. One slip-up is all it takes. And in today’s world, you know how it is—humans and demons can’t coexist.”
“Take it one step at a time,” Yin Luan comforted her. “We’ll figure something out when that paper really catches fire.”
Everyone has their own way of living. As long as they like it, that’s what matters.
“That’s fine too,” She Mei said with a smile, reaching out to pat her head. “People have their own fates; we can’t force them.”
Yin Luan was thrilled by Big Snake Snake’s touch. Her eyes curved into delighted crescent moons, her tongue lolling out playfully. She looked utterly obedient and adorable.
“Ahem, we still haven’t solved the main problem,” she said after basking in the moment for a while. “You’ve seen what I can do. It probably won’t be very effective against formless Evil Spirits.”
“Mm…”
The beautiful matron pondered deeply.
“If you were a fully capable Great Demon, there would be plenty of ways to deal with Evil Spirits. We Snake Demons are even one of the demon races that counter them particularly well. But if you have no abilities at all and have to start from scratch…”
Even the Great Demon seemed troubled.
She couldn’t possibly master spells in just a day or two, and the little Silver Snake wasn’t even proficient with Innate Qi yet. Forcing the use of spells could easily lead to qi deviation.
That left only one option: approaching it from the angle of “Demonic Instinct.”
After transforming into human form, demons sometimes retained certain abilities from their original beast shapes. For instance, most bird demons who took human form could still fly.
Snake had no shortage of Demonic Instincts: night vision, discerning scents, a supremely flexible body, periodic heats…
“Have you ever noticed anything particularly special about yourself?” She Mei asked. “Generally speaking, the traits you’re most influenced by are the easiest to awaken as Demonic Instincts.”
“Special?” Yin Luan thought carefully. “My companions all say I’m a normal, pure girl… I just eat a little more than others.”
“Eat?” She Mei snapped her fingers. “Yes, that’s it!”
The Snake Demon instinct for “one big gulp.”
In the wild, snakes could often swallow prey wider than their own bodies in a single gulp—an astonishing feat.
This “swallow” ability persisted even after becoming demons, evolving into one of the Snake Demons’ signature attack methods.
By continually developing and refining this instinctive attack, it became the extraordinarily powerful technique known as Snake Devour.
“Among untransformed Snake Demons, this move is typically used against tangible targets,” She Mei explained. “But for shaped Snake Demons like us, it can also target formless Evil Spirits—and it’s remarkably effective.”
“Since your ‘eating’ ability is the one that’s best preserved, your Snake Devour instinct might just be stronger than average!”
